Vallejo highlighted as part of statewide campaign

Billing itself as a survivor and a community on the rise, Vallejo on Thursday became the latest town featured on an 13-month-old website touting the accomplishments of California's cities.

The site allows cities to put their best foot forward, proponents say. Vallejo's profile is found at: www.strongcitiesstrongstate.com/city/vallejo.

Vallejo City Manager Dan Keen said he made the city's participation a priority when he signed on here. An intern has been working on it for the past six months, he said.

"We thought the most appropriate items for Vallejo now include the exit from bankruptcy, our perspective of where we're going from there, which we see as a success story. We discuss Mare Island jobs, reopening a fire station, some of our efforts to get public input at City Hall."

The Vallejo City Unified School District's progress and the city's new and improved parks are noted, as is the city's economic development efforts and the newly passed tax measures that are expected to provide funds for an improve quality of life.

A collaboration between the League of California Cities and the California City Management Foundation, the concept for Strong Cities I Strong State grew out of the city of Bell debacle of a couple years ago, where the city made headlines for paying exorbitant salaries to officials, league spokeswoman Eva Spiegel said.

"Now, though, we're not just reacting to something negative but working to tell a positive story about how cities have a positive impact on people's daily lives," Spiegel said

Since it's Sept. 2011 launch, some 150 of California's 482 cities have already participated, she said.

The online feature is free to the cities and the profiles they provide are not edited, she said.

"The goal is to educate the public and policy makers, and look at trends and analyzing that data and see what this tells us about our cities; about the role of cities and the services we provide and how we impact the quality of life in California," she said. "You can't have a strong city without a strong state and vice versa."

It's about recapturing people's confidence, and may be "especially important for a city like Vallejo," Keen said.

"As city managers, we recognize that with all the stuff that goes on at the state level, maybe people don't see the successes that go on in local level," he said. "Even here in Vallejo, even with the bankruptcy, there are success stories. We continue to provide for the residents and we're on the way to a whole lot more."

Contact staff writer Rachel Raskin-Zrihen at (707) 553-6824 or rzrihen@timesheraldonline.com. Follow her on Twitter at Rachelvth.